LITTLE SANDPIPER. 
288 
species could I procure, while the young of the Ring Plover were very 
abundant. 
I was surprised, whilst rambling along the shores of the Raritan river, 
between New Jersey and New York, to find a great number of little 
Sandpipers, on the 29th of July, 1832, leading me to believe that they had 
probably bred on the elevated portions of Staten Island, although on the 
other hand, they might have been barren birds. I have been equally 
astonished to see large flocks of this species on the sand-bars along the shores 
of the Ohio, below the great Rapids, about the middle of August. Accord- 
ing to Dr. Richardson, it “ breeds within the Arctic Circle, arriving as soon 
as the snow melts. It was observed on the 21st of May, on the swampy 
borders of small lakes in latitude 66°. The crops of those we killed were 
filled with a soft blackish earth, and some jvhite worms. ” From the above 
quotation, I would almost be inclined to believe that, like some others of our 
birds, which are said to be found in northern Europe, this might be one. 
The habits of the Irfttle Sandpiper have been described with great care 
and accuracy by my friend Thomas Nuttall. His account is indeed so 
perfect that I shall here lay it before you in preference to one by myself. 
“ The Peeps, as they have been called, are seen in the salt marshes around 
Boston, as early as the 8th of July; indeed, so seldom are they absent from 
us in the summer season, that they might be taken for denizens of the state, 
or the neighbouring countries. When they arrive, now and then accom- 
panied by the semi-palmated species, the air is sometimes, as it were, 
clouded with their flocks. Companies led from place to place in quest of 
food, ai*e seen whirling suddenly in circles, with a desultory flight, at a 
distance resembling a swarm of hiving bees, seeking out some object on 
which to settle. At this time, deceiving them by an imitation of their sharp 
and querulous whistle, the fowler approaches, and adds destruction to the 
confusion of their timorous and restless flight. Flocking together for 
common security, the fall of their companions, and their plaintive cry, excite 
so much sympathy among the harmless Peeps, that, forgetting their own 
safety, or not well perceiving the cause of the fatality which the gun spreads 
among them, they fall sometimes in such a state of confusion, as to be routed 
with but little effort, until the greedy sportsman is glutted with his timorous 
and infatuated game. When much disturbed, they, however, separate into 
small and wandering parties, and are now seen gleaning their fare of larvae, 
worms, minute shell-fish, and insects, in the salt marshes, or on the muddy 
and sedgy shores of tide rivers and ponds. At such times they may be 
very nearly approached, betraying rather a heedless familiarity than a 
timorous mistrust of their most wily enemy; and even when rudely startled 
they will often return to the same place in the next instant, to pursue their 
